Comdex banning foreign flags from Las Vegas convention floor

David Strow

Thursday, June 14, 2001 | 11:07 a.m.

International flags will disappear from the floor of this Fall's Comdex convention in Las Vegas, as the show's organizers try to defuse a potential clash between rival nations.

Massachusetts-based Key3Media Inc., the organizer of Comdex, will book a large room at the November event to showcase information technology companies from the People's Republic of China. It will mark the first time mainland China has opened such a room at the event.

But the China Post and China Economic News Service are both reporting that China's international trade agency is placing a key condition on Chinese participation -- that Taiwanese companies not display the flag of their country in the Taiwan Pavilion, as they've done in years past.

Philip McKay, Key3Media's senior vice president of international business development, denied the Chinese government had made any such demand. But to head off any controversy, McKay said Comdex will not permit any national flags to be displayed in national pavilions, with the exception of the United States's.

"We are truly an international show, and we try to rise above any political situation," McKay said. "We can't get involved in that. The decision was made by us that we would stop the showing of all flags, so nobody would be offended."

So far, there hasn't been any negative reaction to the decision, McKay said.

"The only negative feedback I get is from my marketing people, because they like to look at the flags on the show floor," McKay said.

The dispute between China and Taiwan dates back to the successful Communist revolution in the 1940s, when the former government of China fled to the nearby island and set up a separate government. Since then, mainland China has insisted it is the ruler of Taiwan, and has consistently placed pressure on companies and governments alike not to recognize or deal with Taiwan.

Taiwan is a considerable customer at Comdex. It is the largest international exhibitor at the trade show, and at least 230 Taiwanese companies are expected to have exhibits at the event this year. China, by comparison, averages 30 to 40 exhibitors, though McKay hopes that number will rise with the China Pavilion.

"I don't think it's significant to get any particular country, other than China is huge, and is a great market for us to crack into from an international standpoint," McKay said.

Comdex is by far Las Vegas's largest annual trade show, attracting more than 200,000 attendees annually.